CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) 鈥 A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine began Friday, the countries said, in one of the few signs of progress from their direct talks last week in Istanbul 鈥 part of a U.S.-led effort that so far has failed to produce a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first phase of the exchange was bringing home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very important to bring everyone home,鈥 he wrote on Telegram, thanking all who worked to secure their return and pledging to continue diplomatic efforts to make more exchanges possible.
Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry said each side had released 270 military personnel and 120 civilian detainees. The exchange is 鈥減lanned to continue in coming days,鈥 it said.
Kyiv and Moscow agreed in Turkey last week to the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side in their first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Russia鈥檚 2022 invasion. That meeting lasted only two hours and brought no breakthrough in efforts to stop the fighting.
An exchange at the Belarus-Ukrainian border
The swap was taking place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The exchange, which also would be the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians at one time, didn't appear to herald any halt in fighting.
Russia launched two ballistic missiles at infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, killing one worker and injuring eight others - four critically, according to regional Gov. Oleh Kiper. It was the first recorded attack on the port since March 11.
Fighting continues along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.
Relatives await the released captives
At a medical facility where the released Ukrainians were due to be taken, relatives waited to see whether their loved ones would be part of the swap.
Svitlana Kuskova, 49, held a sign with a photo of her husband, Oleksandr Kuskov, missing for the past year. Kuskov was a military driver who was later transferred to the infantry, and his wife has searched through Russian military channels, hoping to catch a glimpse of him or some sign he is still alive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely hard to go to sleep every night not knowing what happened to him,鈥 she said.
Olessia Dyadushkin, 37, held a photo of her 40-year-old husband Valentin, missing since July 2024. Although she had no information about him, she has held onto hope because there was no confirmation that he was killed.
Her 4-year-old daughter often asks where her father is, and tells her he's at work and very busy, Dyadushkin said, wiping away tears.
News of the prisoner release emerged when U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had carried out a large exchange.
鈥淎 major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine,鈥 Trump said on the Truth Social platform. He said it would 鈥済o into effect shortly.鈥
He added in the post that "this could lead to something big???鈥 鈥 apparently referring to other diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
No new Russia-Ukraine talks are set
After the May 16 talks, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a 鈥渃onfidence-building measure鈥 and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued.
European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army鈥檚 battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.
The Istanbul meeting revealed both sides clearly remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.
The Kremlin has pushed back on a temporary halt to hostilities, and Putin has said any such truce must come with a freeze on Western arms supplies to Ukraine and an end to Ukraine鈥檚 mobilization drive.
A senior Ukrainian official said in Istanbul that Russia had introduced new, 鈥渦nacceptable demands鈥 to withdraw Ukrainian forces from huge swaths of territory. The official, who was not authorized to make official statements, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. The proposal had not been previously discussed, the official said.
Putin has long demanded as a key condition for a peace deal that Ukraine withdraw its troops from the four regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully controlled.
Zelenskyy has warned that if Russia continues to reject a ceasefire and make 鈥渦nrealistic demands,鈥 it will signal deliberate efforts to prolong the war 鈥 a move that should bring tougher international sanctions.
Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry said it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20-23.
Ukraine鈥檚 air force said Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday.
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Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington and Yehor Konovalov in Ukraine contributed.
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